Netanyahu’s U.S. Popularity Has Declined Sharply: Poll

While U.S. public sentiment toward Israel has remained relatively stable, favorability ratings for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have declined sharply over the past six weeks, and particularly since his controversial speech before Congress March 3, according to a new survey released Monday by the Pew Research Center.

The results suggest not only that Netanyahu did himself few favors in intervening so blatantly in partisan U.S. politics insofar as the public is concerned. They may also encourage those in the administration who believe continuing to criticize Bibi for his efforts to undercut Obama’s Middle East policy—whether on Iran or on Israel-Palestine—doesn’t carry too much political risk.

What may be most remarkable about the poll results, which focused primarily on attitudes towards a potential deal currently being negotiated in Lausanne between the P5+1 and Iran, is how little the Israeli leader is known here despite all the brouhaha over his speech. As noted by Pew, “a relatively large percentage (41%) said they either had not heard of Bibi or they had no opinion about him.”

Among the 59% who presumably know something about the man and had developed an opinion about him, the percentage of respondents who said they had a favorable view fell overall from 38% in mid-February to 31% in the most recent poll, which was conducted March 25-29.

Declines were particularly dramatic among 18- to 29-year-olds (from 28% to 19%), 50- to 64-year-olds (47% to 36%), college grads without post-graduate education (45% to 35%), those with some college (37% to 31%), and those with only a high-school education or less (35% to 26%).

Self-identified independents mirrored the change in the general public with favorable views declining from 38% to 31%, but even among Republicans, favorable views have fallen—from a majority of 53% to a plurality of 47% (although unfavorable views also fell by five percent). (For those who haven’t seen it, the New York Times published an important article about Republican support for Bibi and Israel in the wake of Jeb Bush’s distancing himself from former Secretary of State James Baker’s remarks at the J Street conference last week.)

Netanyahu’s popularity among Democrats, meanwhile suffered a substantial blow—from 28 percent who had a favorable opinion of him six weeks ago to 19% today. Significantly, among self-described “conservative” or “moderate” Democrats, the decline in favorability was particularly sharp—from 35% to 20%. One hopes that Hillary Clinton takes note of just how obnoxious Bibi appears to have made himself even among more-conservative Dems.

What makes these results even more remarkable is a quick look at a Gallup poll conducted Mar 5-8; that is, within just a few days of Netanyahu’s big moment at the House rostrum. At that time, a whopping 62% of self-identified Republicans said they had a favourable opinion of Bibi. That’s a decline of 15 percentage points in less than four weeks.

On Iran, the new survey doesn’t offer much in the way of news, as little has changed in public attitudes about negotiations or Iran since the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) was reached in Geneva in late November, 2013. A 49% plurality approves of negotiating with Iran, while 40% disapprove, including a 56% majority of Republicans.

But here again, it doesn’t seem as if many Americans have been paying close attention. Only 27% of the 1,500 respondents said they’ve heard a lot about the talks, while 49% said they’d heard a little, and 24% “nothing at all.” Of the 76% who said they’d heard at least a little, 63% (80% of Republicans) said they don’t believe the Iranians are “serious” about addressing international concerns about their nuclear program—a percentage that is virtually unchanged from when the question was last asked in December 2013.

Of course, that presents a problem to the administration which, along with its negotiating partners and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has repeatedly affirmed that Tehran has complied with JPOA for the life of the agreement.

The survey also found strong support (62% overall) for the notion that Congress “should have final authority over approving any nuclear agreement with Iran,” although views broke sharply along partisan lines, as you might expect. Remarkably the overall percentage for Congressional review is higher than Pew found for conducting military strikes against Syria (61%) in September, 2013, or invading Iraq (54%) in October, 2002, when Congress voted on the Authorization to Use Military Force. It naturally suggests that the administration faces a tough fight in resisting Republican pressure for a vote next month if a deal is concluded, although there appears to be some bipartisan sentiment for putting off any Congressional action until a comprehensive agreement is reached by July 1.

Meanwhile, another poll conducted by CBS News a week ago found that 29% of all respondents (45% of Republicans) believe that “Iran’s nuclear program is a threat to the United States that requires military action now.” (That’s apparently a position shared by John McCain who, speaking on the Senate floor last week, urged Israel to “go rogue” by attacking Iran!)

At the same time 63% of respondents (51% of Republicans) believe that the alleged threat “can be contained for now (45%) or does not constitute “a threat to the United States at this time” (18%).

Nearly three out of four Democrats (72%) and two out of three Independents (64%) consider the nuclear issue to be a manageable threat or not a threat at all, according to the survey.

Post navigation

8 Comments

Your comments about Hillary are timely, though this reader is not so optimistic. Hillary will try to walk a fine line- her husband has, after all, many times shown his adeptness as a ‘twinkle toes’ and spin artist on such high wire acts, when he should have been pilloried and bit the dust. But the bottom line is Hillary’s loyalty to the special interests and their money that funds her- which includes the Israeli Lobby, the military industrial and national security state complex (and even Ukrainian oligarchs)- and the absolutely atrocious record she has left in her wake for the past three or four decades. Whether the women at Wellesley or the other Seven Sisters, or their Ivy League equivalents, and those in Government and business who are eager to make their mark on the world without considering what the policies they advocate really mean, will finally get it, or will mindlessly rally behind her, is an open question. What is clear is that an elite education, or extensive resume, or purported ‘experience’ on the job, does not always mean very much, and can sometimes (and in the case of the neocons and neo-liberals, ALWAYS) produce toxic results. So let’s hope that the less privileged but more sensible of our citizens will hold her feet to the fire, or better yet, find someone who can really do the job.

What does this have to do with Netanyahu, or support for him? A lot, because right now there are too many ‘Hillaries’ in Congress- and too many on the wrong payroll.

Why should Americans care about Iran? They leave that to FP nuts like us. They are smarter. They think about more important matters like jobs, social life and children.
Regarding popularity, Obama’s disapproval continues to exceed his popularity as it has for a year (RCP RCP Average, approve/disapprove — 45.8 /50.0
Obama could have gotten tough with Netanyahu years ago, but he didn’t. Americans don’t like weakness.

As always, the disconnect is between the elected officials of this country and the people they purport to represent. Our elected officials have a craven, slavish fealty to Likud Israel, because that’s what they’re instructed to cultivate in order to keep their jobs. Does that mean Americans in general have any idea who the prime minister of Israel is? Ahhh, I’m gonna guess only a small percentage. But when Bibi decided to flout the authority of POTUS, I bet they started to sit up and take notice and figure out who the hell that guy is.

The Israel Lobby has counted on a general American disinterest in politics to push their agenda through and so far that’s worked out pretty well for them. But when Bibi, in his hubris, starts thinking it’s all about the cult of his “Churchillian” rock star personality and popularity, not only in Israel but here in America as well, and pushing himself into the limelight, then his ego and pride are clouding his perception of reality. I have heard of his wife saying proudly that Bibi could have easily been president of the United States. I’ll bet fifty percent of Ron Dermer’s job consists of telling Bibi how brilliant he is. I’ll bet Bibi eats all that up with a spoon. I have known people like that in my life, and their pride makes them fallible. And all of those fawning, toadying senators probably don’t help much.

Let’s hope he has miscalculated, fatally, at last. And let’s hope his downfall is not too long in the making and that well intentioned idiots in congress don’t artificially prolong it.

BTW, I’m donating to JStreet. I hope you all will consider doing the same.

PNAC de-coded: blowback as the tactical pivot, war as the strategic pivot, unemployment as the prize.
The Democrat strategy: tack to the right, lose the election, blame the liberals, and get the policies you actually want. Isn’t that right, Schumer.

Latest Tweets

Comments Policy

We value your opinion and encourage you to comment on our postings. To ensure a safe environment we will not publish comments that involve ad hominem attacks, racist, sexist or otherwise discriminatory language, or anything that is written solely for the purpose of slandering a person or subject.

Excessively long comments may not be published due to their length. All comments are moderated. LobeLog does not publish comments with links.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to hearing from you!

Disclaimer

Any views and opinions expressed on this site are the personal views of the author and do not represent the views of Jim Lobe or the Institute for Policy Studies.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to subscribe to our site and receive notifications of new posts by email.